Click 1934 Oldsmobile F-Series Six - Large image to view an enlarged version of the image.

*"The Picture Man: Lansing Through the Lens of R.C. Leavenworth" presents photographs of Lansing, circa 1919-1937, and some earlier images of Northern Michigan.

*The exhibit runs May 30 to September 30, 2008.

*It's located in the temporary exhibit area on the first floor of the Michigan Historical Center.

*Admission is free.

*Click Location and Parking for a street map and parking information

From horse-and-carriage to the automobile, take a trip through Lansing history with R. C. Leavenworth. Leavenworth started out photographing lumbering and mining camps in northern Michigan, using a horse-drawn darkroom. He relocated to Lansing in 1919 to document Lansing's transformation into a major industrial city and automotive capital. For over a century, Leavenworth Photography has shot hundreds of thousands of images that tell the story of industry, business and social life in Michigan's capital city. With subjects as diverse as street scenes, car parts, workers' strikes, vaudeville troupes and football games, Leavenworth lived up to the slogan plastered on the door of his company car : "Anything photographed, anywhere, anytime."

ABOUT THE IMAGE ABOVE:

This idealistic California scene promises a lifestyle of ease and luxury with your 1934 Oldsmobile F-series Six. Oldsmobile thrived during the Great Depression and touted their cars as the leaders in style and value.

This image is from a rare Agfacolor glass screen plate in the Leavenworth historical photograph collection. Agfacolor produced one of the earlier types of color photographic plates. It was similar to the Autochrome process in which the glass plate overlays a mosaic of red, green and blue dyed resin grains. These grains act as tiny color filters that interpret color onto the emulsion. Our modern-day scanner is unable to justly reproduce the color tone of these plates, so come to the exhibit -- "The Picture Man: Lansing through the Lens of R. C. Leavenworth" - and see the plates illuminated in person!

2008 marks the 100th anniversary of General Motors. Leavenworth Photography of Lansing, Michigan created one of the largest collections of Oldsmobile photographs. Oldsmobile was founded in Lansing in 1897, and became a division of General Motors in 1908.

Click Archives of Michigan to visit the Archives of Michigan home page.

Click Image of the Month Archives to access former Image of the Month pages.

Updated 06/02/2008

Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries
Use and Reproduction Information [PDF]
Contact us with your question or comment about this page.